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A new electric vehicle lap record was set yesterday by Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG) at the 20.8 km. (12.9 mile) Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit in Germany.

Jochen Krumbach drove the all-electric TMG EV P001 on road-legal tires to crush the previous 9 minute, 1.338 second lap record with a 7-minute, 47.794-second lap.

The racer is based on the proven Radical SR1 design, and powered by two EVO motors delivering a peak of 280 kw (375hp) and a top speed of 260 kph (161 mph).

The TMG EV P001 weighs only 970 kg. including its lithium-ceramic battery pack.

Setting out, TMG’s goal was to beat 8 minutes for the lap, which it easily did with no interference from cool weather on a track known for changeable conditions.

TMG’s efforts were to test and develop the powertrain and related technology with an eye toward future racing and commercial sales of its electric vehicle solutions.

“The goals for this project were twofold: obviously we wanted to set a new EV lap record and I am very pleased we could achieve that so comprehensively,” said Pascal Vasselon, TMG’s Technical Director. “On the other hand, we also wanted to learn more about the operation of our electric powertrain in extreme circumstances; in motorsport there is no more extreme circuit than the Nürburgring. On the record lap the TMG EV P001 performed better than in testing due to the improvement we already could make based on that experience. We have enhanced our electric powertrain development thanks to the information our engineers have gained and our future EV products will benefit from this project.”

We do not know the ultimate range of this racer, or whether longer distance racing action could be yet viable, but it is certain TMG thinks more EV racing will be a reality soon enough.

“This is a very impressive achievement which really shows the huge potential for electric powertrains to deliver fast, exciting action on the race track,” said Rob Leupen, TMG’s Director Business Operations. “There’s no doubt that electric motorsport can be every bit as thrilling as traditional racing and it was an amazing sensation to watch the TMG electric vehicle fly past on the Nordschleife, with only the sound of wind rushing past and tyres squealing. To achieve a new lap record at the first attempt, and by such a huge margin, is a great achievement and I am very proud to see TMG’s name in the record books. But this is not the end of the story for TMG and I hope we will see our electric powertrains in action on the track again soon.”